Elísio Estanque takes us on a journey through decades of our recent History through his life journey. A journey that begins, and inevitably returns, to his deep Alentejo: that of a son of illiterate and poor peasants who, despite the obscurantist dictatorship, thrived on a lot of toil. A young rural man who takes advantage of the revolutionary changes that April has opened up for him and sets out to discover the urban culture of the capital, to explore job opportunities and new social and political horizons, investing in experiences and studies.

Studies that provide him with the sociological tools he needs to dissect everything around him: from the tragic events that affected his family, to the emotional relationships that made him grow up, from the university environments in which he evolves, to the factories where he joins to analyse labour relations, to observing the social, cultural and geostrategic conditions that characterise the countries to which he becomes connected, namely Ukraine, the USA and Brazil.

This Para Além da Nostalgia - Ensaio autobiográfico de um sociólogo [Beyond Nostalgia - Autobiographical essayof a sociologist] is more than what the author summarises at the end as “a gaze in the rear-view mirror of life, observing through it the traces of the past rising from the dustbin of oblivion”: it is an impressively clear snapshot of the evolution of Portuguese society, inseparable from the progress and regression that humanity has experienced. It takes us back to the past, helps us understand the present and prompts us to understand the future.

About the author

Elísio Estanque is a sociologist, professor at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Coimbra and researcher at the Centre for Social Studies of the same university. His main areas of research are Labour Relations and Sociology of Work and Company, Trade Unionism and Social Movements, Youth Sociology and Social Classes and Inequalities.